Cody McSherry, age 13, is moving on to the final round of Lancaster's Got Talent. Cody will be playing his piano accordion and competing against nine vocalists. The finalists will perform live at the Lancaster Newspapers studio in Lancaster, Pennsylvania at 7:PM on Friday, August 5, 2016. The performances will be livestreamed via the Lancaster Online website: http://lancasteronline.com/lancastersgottalent/.

The public is invited to vote online for their choice during the livestream, and the winner of the voting will receive $250. Three studio judges will also select a winner for the grand prize of $750. You can view videos of the finalists via the website link.

Please consider watching the livestream broadcast at 7 p.m. on August 5th and voting for Cody!

Accordion Babes 2017 Album & Pin-up Calendar, California - USA

The 2017 Accordion Babes Album & Pin-up Calendar, produced by accordionist Renee de la Prade in Oakland, California, is in production, and pre-orders are now being taken. There is a small price discount for pre-ordered copies, (more copies ordered = bigger discount) and very reasonable shipping rates to Europe for the 2017 edition.

The ladies are all accordionists, not models, and the calendar comes complete with a CD featuring each of them.

Billy McComiskey’s AFC Fellowship Award, Washington DC - USA

Video: To celebrate the AFC’s 40-year connection with Billy McComiskey, he was invited to headline a concert on June 28th featuring his sons Patrick, Sean, and Mikey, his nieces Catriona and Angela Fee, and his friends Myron Bretholz and Josh Dukes. Presented as part of the Library of Congress American Folklife Center’s Homegrown: The Music of America series. Kennedy Center, Published: Jun 28, 2016.

The American Folklife Center has congratulated Billy McComiskey, one of the USA’s top button accordion players in Irish traditional music, for winning a 2016 National Heritage Fellowship award. The Fellowship is in recognition for a lifetime of excellence in a traditional art form, and is the highest honor in the folk and traditional arts in the United States.

Billy McComiskey, from New York, has long been widely regarded as one of the leading Irish traditional musicians. His fame and music have been the subject of a doctoral dissertation, which is soon to be published as a book.

Billy’s award is special for the AFC as he is among the people who have been associated with the Center for all 40 years of its existence. On January 2nd 1976, President Ford signed into law the American Folklife Preservation Act, which the Congress had previously passed. It established the American Folklife Center in the Library of Congress with the mission to preserve and present American folklife. One of the first things the Librarian of Congress, Dr. Daniel Boorstin, did was to throw a party to celebrate the new Center, involving many leading Irish musicians, including a group called The Irish Tradition, featuring Billy McComiskey.

Accordions Around the World - Bryant Park/NY/USA

Bryant Park Presents Accordions Around the World6:00pm – 8:00pm | Throughout the Park August 3-31, 2016

"'accordion wizards' from around the planet try to impress one another and rock the park" - TimeOut New York

"No one else has hosted as diverse a range of events this summer as Bryant Park, but [Accordion Band Festival] might be the most eclectic" - Metro New York, on last year's festival

"offering accordionists an opportunity to change the stodgy image of their instrument" - The New York Times

Accordions Around the World is a weekly series that regularly features six accordionists as well as bandoneon/bayan/concertina/harmonium-players of different musical genres performing in various locations around Bryant Park. The series, produced with Ariana's List, represents many cultures and genres, offering audiences the chance to experience the often overlooked or little-known instrument.

A weekly series featuring a total of over 75 accordionists, as well as bandoneon/bayan/concertina/harmonium-players, representing a vast spectrum of musical genres from many corners of the globe. Produced with Ariana’s List.

Passing of Bud Hyrczyk - USA

AWW is sorry to report the passing of the versatile polka musician Bud Hyrczyk. From the news report by Jeff Himler: From his native Yukon to California and Europe, Bud Hyrczyk's music got people dancing.

A skilled player of keyboard instruments and the button box accordion from an early age, he was known for Slovenian-style polka music while leading the Yukon Button Box Club and in his recent solo recordings. Known as “Bud” since childhood, Lotsie J. Hyrczyk Jr., 67, of Russell Springs, Ky., died Friday, July 22, 2016, in Baptist Health Louisville after experiencing organ failure.

According to younger brother, Mike, of Yukon in South Huntingdon, Mr. Hyrczyk picked up a love of Slovenian music from their grandparents and was playing professionally with Greensburg-area musicians in his mid-teens.

As a young adult, Mr. Hyrczyk started a family band, Bud Hyrczyk and the Sounds of Time, that included his brother on strings.“Mostly we were booked for weddings because of the ethnicity of the music,” Mike Hyrczyk said. “My brother was always very sociable onstage or offstage. He kept the good times going. He knew how to reach a crowd.”

In the early 1980s, Mr. Hyrczyk founded and directed the Yukon Button Box Club, whose eight members included his uncle and fellow accordionist Don Leskosek of West Newton. According to Leskosek, “The rest of us just played by ear, but Bud played by the notes. We were one of the best bands around because we had a good director.”

Tours took the band to Michigan and California, and even to Slovenia and Switzerland. Leskosek recalled one of their most popular numbers was “Toot, Toot, Tootsie,” an old Al Jolson song that his nephew recast as a polka.

Also an able singer, Mr. Hyrczyk went on to write, arrange and record original music. His latest album, “Livin' The Dream,” won a top award last year on a polka webcasting site. Mr. Hyrczyk's music is featured on the soundtracks of two recently produced independent films, “1/1” and “Dig Two Graves,” that were written or co-written by son Jeremy Phillips of Los Angeles.

Retired as a financial planner for Prudential Insurance Company of America, Mr. Hyrczyk was a member of the National Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame. A Corvette enthusiast, he loved to cook Italian dishes.

In addition to his brother, Mike, survivors include his wife, Sandra; four children, Amy Busch and her husband, Regis, of Jeannette; Jeremy Phillips and wife, Jen, of Los Angeles; Jennifer Bloom and husband, Corby, of Texas; and Sabrina Barnett and husband, Mark, of Russell Springs; and six grandchildren. A memorial service was held on July 30, 2016 Saturday at the Harrold Zion Lutheran Church, Greensburg. Interment was private. Bernard Funeral Home, 367 Main St., Russell Springs, was in charge of arrangements.

Cotati Accordion Festival - USA

Accordion virtuoso, veteran instructor, and West Coast pioneer of the electronic accordion, Lou Jacklich, has been selected to be the Honorary Director of the 2016 Cotati Accordion Festival (CAF).

Mr. Jacklich’s outstanding full-time career as an accordionist spans over 70 years…and still counting! The considerable history of Lou including an eTracks mp3 album is online at: Lou Jacklich

The festival will also include many accordion acts, including zydeco, klezmer, polka, tango, Latino, rock and much more, along with the polka tent, the jam tent the zydeco dance party, food vendors, arts and crafts, beer and wine.

3er FESTIVAL PANCHE DE ACORDEONES - Colombia

Joe Derrane (1930-2016), Massachessetts - USA

Video: Excerpt from "As Played by Joe Derrane (1995)", a documentary about accordion player Joe Derrane of Randolph, MA. Produced by Frank Ferrel. Edited by Julie Eddy. Part of the Massachusetts Folk Arts Archive.

Joe Derrane, the son of Irish immigrants, is widely regarded as one of the greats of Irish traditional music. Born and raised in Boston, Massachessetts, his father played the button accordion and his mother the fiddle, and at the age of 10, young Joe began playing a one-row diatonic button accordion, taught by Jerry O'Brien, an immigrant from County Cork, Ireland.

By the age of 14 Derrane was performing at house parties on the thriving Boston Irish scene. He switched to a 2-row D/C# accordion, and soon became a leading musician in the Irish dance halls, which in the late 1940s led him to playing on radio broadcasts and making records. He was much admired for his lively, accurate and highly ornamented playing.

By the late 1950s the Irish dance halls locally were closing down, so Derrane switched to piano accordion and formed a band to play for weddings and functions, moving away from Irish music and instead playing popular selections as well as Italian and Jewish traditional music. In the mid-1970s Derrane moved to playing the electronic organ. He retired from music in 1990.

In 1993 Rego Records reissued some of Joe Derrane’s original 78 rpm recordings from the 1940s on a CD, ‘Irish Accordion’. These recordings generated considerable interest, and Derrane began playing the button accordion again and was invited to perform as a special guest at the 1994 Irish Folk Festival in Washington, D.C.

His virtuosic performances (accompanied by Felix Dolan on piano) were greeted with overwhelming enthusiasm and acclaim, and Joe Derrane embarked on a second career as a button accordionist. He subsequently recorded two solo albums, ‘Give Us Another’ (1994) and ‘Grove Lane’ (2010), and four collaboration albums with other players, appeared on radio and TV many times, including ‘The Pure Drop’ on Irish TV RTE.

He was the subject of a documentary by Frank Ferrel, ‘As Played By Joe Derrane’, and on another broadcast by Irish-language station TG4 as part of its ‘Sé mo laoch’ series. Joe toured Canada, Switzerland and the Netherlands, and appeared with The Chieftains at the Boston Symphony Hall.

In 1998 Joe Derrane was inducted into the Hall of Fame of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann for his contribution to Irish traditional music.

Joe Derrane, married with grandchildren, died on July 22nd 2016 in Randolf, Massachessetts, at the age of 86.

Video 1: Historical video clip. Features an excellent performance, Finnish folk instrument, at the beginning.Video 2: One of his famous compositions Nuoruusmuistoja.

The 100th anniversary of the birth of Lasse Pihlajamaa (1916-2007) is celebrated in Finland in several concerts, exhibitions and events. Lasse Pihlajamaa (1916-2007) was a Finnish accordionist, composer-arranger, teacher, entertainer and world-class accordion comedian and father of a range of accordion models.

He was born on the 1st August 1916 in Jämijärvi, in a small village in Western Finland.

He was the pioneer of Finnish accordion music. As a composer he was searching for the musical and technical limits of the instrument as early as the 1940's, when 'The Dance of the Wind', 'The Dragonfly', 'Variations in Minor' and many other compositions were written, one generation ahead of their time. Picture left, 1942. Picture right, 1986.

Teaching in his own Accordion Institute in Helsinki from 1957 to 1972, Lasse Pihlajamaa had a crucial impact in the professional pedagogy of accordion playing. Due to his work, in 1977 the accordion began being accepted in several major conservatories including the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki.

Lasse Pihlajamaa is described as one of the leading figures in modern Finnish (and Nordic) accordion art. Lasse Pihlajamaa passed away 14th November 2007 in Helsinki.

During next days the national Finnish TV YLE presents interesting documents from 1975 and 1986.

Bud Hyrczyk (1949 - 2016)

From his native Yukon to California and Europe, Bud Hyrczyk's music got people dancing,

A skilled player of keyboard instruments and the button box accordion from an early age, he was known for Slovenian-style polka music while leading the Yukon Button Box Club and in his recent solo recordings.

According to younger brother, Mike, of Yukon in South Huntingdon, Mr. Hyrczyk picked up a love of Slovenian music from their grandparents and was playing professionally with Greensburg-area musicians in his mid-teens.

As a young adult, Mr. Hyrczyk started a family band, Bud Hyrczyk and the Sounds of Time, that included his brother on strings.

“Mostly we were booked for weddings because of the ethnicity of the music,” Mike Hyrczyk said. “My brother was always very sociable onstage or offstage. He kept the good times going. He knew how to reach a crowd.”

In the early 1980s, Mr. Hyrczyk founded and directed the Yukon Button Box Club, whose eight members included his uncle and fellow accordionist Don Leskosek of West Newton. According to Leskosek, “The rest of us just played by ear, but Bud played by the notes. We were one of the best bands around because we had a good director.”

Tours took the band to Michigan and California, and even to Slovenia and Switzerland. Leskosek recalled one of their most popular numbers was “Toot, Toot, Tootsie,” an old Al Jolson song that his nephew recast as a polka.

Also an able singer, Mr. Hyrczyk went on to write, arrange and record original music. His latest album, “Livin' The Dream,” won a top award last year on a polka webcasting site.

Mr. Hyrczyk's music is featured on the soundtracks of two recently produced independent films, “1/1” and “Dig Two Graves,” that were written or co-written by son Jeremy Phillips of Los Angeles.

Retired as a financial planner for Prudential Insurance Company of America, Mr. Hyrczyk was a member of the National Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame. A Corvette enthusiast, he loved to cook Italian dishes.

In addition to his brother, Mike, survivors include his wife, Sandra; four children, Amy Busch and her husband, Regis, of Jeannette; Jeremy Phillips and wife, Jen, of Los Angeles; Jennifer Bloom and husband, Corby, of Texas; and Sabrina Barnett and husband, Mark, of Russell Springs; and six grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday in Harrold Zion Lutheran Church, Greensburg. Interment will be private.

MotorDude Zydeco @ FRIAR TUCK'S CLUB IN COTATI - USA

Born in Oakland California, MotorDude Zydeco plays the music of South Louisiana with soul, grit, and Funky-in-your-face style Zydeco music.

Named after a racehorse owned by zydeco legend Bozoo Chavis MotorDude brings the real deal to the dance hall, Festival stage, or any event large or small

For over 15 years, founding members Billy Wilson (accordion/vocals), Lloyd Meadows (RubBoard/Vocals) Dennis Calloway (Bass)Willy Jordan (Drums/Vocals) and new addition Ian Lamson (Guitar), have been entertaining the Bay Area Zydeco scene.

Concert/Filippo Gambetta & Emilyn Stam - Italia/Canada

by Diatonic News

Festival Tramonti di Sotto 04/08/2016 21:00 - 22:30

http://www.protramontidisotto.it/prossimi-eventi/

Rusty Metoyer invité d'Nuits Cajun de Saulieu - France

by Diatonic News

Friday 5 August / Saturday 6 August 20:00 - 02:00First time in France for this young band who have quickly become The Big Thing in Louisiana these last months. Not to be missed !20:00 - 02:00 : dance at Espace Jean Bertin

August Performances with The Buffalo Concertina All Stars - USA

by Diatonic News

The Concertina All Stars were organized in October 1997 as a “Club” with the unique sound of 8 concertinas, drums, trumpet and bass, consisting of all Buffalo, NY musicians. In 2004, the All Stars moved from club to band, featuring the old time sound of 3 concertinas, accordion, trumpet, clarinet & sax, drums and bass.

Since then, they have enjoyed playing numerous festivals throughout the country, and even traveling abroad to perform in Europe. They feature their own style of honky music played from the heart and their enjoyment is shown on stage as they entertain polka music lovers

Come and see/listen to them in:Saturday, August 6, 2016 in Bavarian Fun Fest - Sharon/PA from 12pm-6pmFriday, August 19, 2016 in Erie County Fair - Slade Park, Hamburg/NY from 1pm-4pmSunday, August 28, 2016 in OLC Church, N.Tonawanda from 1pm-4pm

http://www.concertinaallstars.com/home.html

Meet Filippo Gambetta in August - Italia

by Diatonic News

Video: Indifference Waltz performed by Filippo Gambetta and Claudio De Angeli, published 21 March 2015.

GlamourTango performing in Argentina

by Diatonic News

GlamourTango, a group showcasing female artists in Tango, will perform on August, 2016

Shinjoo Cho is the group's bandoneonist. She is also a pianist and accordionist and a versatile solo and ensemble musician embodying many musical traditions. Her musical path began with piano in her native Korea at the age of five. After immigrating to the US in 1991, she continued her study with Peter Coraggio in Hawaii and later with Ingrid Clarfield in Princeton, New Jersey, where she studied piano performance and pedagogy at the Westminster Choir College. During this time, she won numerous scholarships and competition prizes and performed at the Carnegie Hall. Shinjoo traveled to Serbia for an immersion in Balkan music and studied bandoneón in Argentina.

She has collaborated with international music, dance, and film artists in multidisciplinary projects. Equally at home with classical music, she participated in the Marlboro Music Festival under the direction of Leon Fleisher and performed with the Cleveland Orchestra in 2012 at the Severance Hall.

Currently, Shinjoo splits her time between Buenos Aires, Argentina and the US, performing extensively as a bandoneonist and pianist. She is a principal bandoneonist and assistant director of Orquesta Tipica La Hannibal and in May 2015, she performed as a solo pianist at the inauguration of Centro Cultural Kirchner, which was broadcast live on Argentine national television.

For more information email: carlos.grynfeld@conciertosgrapa.com http://www.glamourtango.com/04-schedule.html

The Wild Catahoulas performing at the Cotati Festival - USA

by Diatonic News

PERFORMING AT THE 2016 CAF/CotatiSATURDAY AUGUST 20, 20165:30-7:00 at the Polka Tent

The Wild Catahoulas is that unique Cajun/ Zydeco band in the North Bay, merging traditional Cajun French two-steps and waltzes from Southwestern Louisiana with contemporary Zydeco and New Orleans sounds. In other words, a GREAT dance band.

Joining us in Cotati will be guest accordion master Andrew Carriere, of the legendary Carriere Family of Lake Charles, Louisiana. Andrew adds real Cajun flavor to the mix of fine musicians: Gus Garelick on fiddle (an original member of Jim Boggio’s Sonoma Swamp Dogs), Allegra Broughton and Sam Page, vocals, guitar and bass (best known from their group Solid Air), and Don Connolly on drums (a member of the Sonoma County Love Choir). Great players, great music! Laissez les bon temps roulez!

*The Catahoula is the official state dog of Louisiana: hard-working and bi-lingual

In July Victor has presented his first CD with traditional tango music recorded during the Festival of Chaillol. He says: it was time to record some music, that were part of my childhood in Argentina and other pieces, that I have discovered years later.